I'm currently about to enter Sen's fortress. My build is based around strength because I used sorceries and pyros in DS3. I'll use the butcher knife I got from the red phantom in the swamp once it's upgraded; the B scaling in strength and reach is much better than my starting axe.

Whenever I use the master key I get Havel-ed. Screw that guy. At least in DS3 he was tucked away in an end game area. I haven't figured out how to get past the hydra yet either. It keeps sniping me off the ladder. I figure I'll take on it and the Ceaseless Discharge after bulking up.

So far the only thing that's given me a lot of trouble were the bell gargoyles. The 2nd one spitting fire is hell to deal with. I ended up looking online how to beat them and summoning phantom NPCs to help; then it was too easy :/. The asylum and Taurus Demon are both easy to circle and react to. Quelaag's tanky but slow.

I used a fire keeper soul before learning you can bring them to the jailed NPC to increase estus proficiency. Then after finding another in blight town I returned to find that character died and I can't even light the bonfire in the firelink ruins. No game screws you like the DS series.

The game is fun but seems very primitive compared to DS3. It's weird playing them in this order. DS1 plays very slow and rigid.

Part 2****. The. CATACOMBS!This area's the perfect storm of DS1 being incredibly hard, having a stupidly rigid system and poor level design. I like how you have to kill necromancers to stop the skeletons from resurrecting, the switches for doors and labyrinth themes. But damn it gets painfully cumbersome and repetitive when you have to back track through after every troll that kills you. And the AI is inconsistent so you can't completely muscle-memory through. Even the skinny skeletons have big spheres of collision that can be hard to get past and bump you off ledges. I beat the black knight; after a few tries of him spawning down with the wheel skeletons and BS like him sniping my landing, I finally got him alone for the kill. But then there's the wheels who are by far the worst enemy in the game, able to grind away your entire health bar and don't stop for shields. So it took several attempts of wading through the cannon fodder to get back there and work out a strategy of going through the side rout, rather than dropping from where the knight was, and killing them one by one. Sometimes they'd fall out of the map.Pinwheel went down first try but left NO FIREPIT. I ended up falling in the darkness and losing all my souls, and back tracking AGAIN through all the **** to get to the tomb of the giants where everybody's most hated NPC Patches was. I got the lantern but it did nothing and I fell to my death again. Then I figured out it only works in the ****ing LEFT hand. I have so much rage right now.

DS3 had too many bonfires sure, but at least it gave you one after bosses. A simple ladder shortcut and fire after pinwheel would have made the experience challenging without being painfully repetitive and artificially extending the game many unnecessary hours for no reward. This is bad game design.

many experienced players on a new playtrough go directly to that area after the tutorial area because it is full of usable stuff and kinda easy if u know what u doing. And Pinweel is considered to be the easiest boss in DS1.

So, what goddies are there in that area? One of the 3 masks that pinweel drops, the rite of kindling so u can get to 20 estus at bonfires, Gravelord convenant with Gravelord greatsword and the 2 AoE spells, besides many other goodies. Oh, there is a hidden blacksmith too, specialized in certain elemental infusions.

Another good thing is the Patches/Reah of Thorolund quest that grants access to nufty miracles like WOTG.

So, how to do this at starting sl with unupgraded weapon? There no ladders, but u can make some falls that will get you to the wheel skeletons in like 10 seconds. Then it the old aggro them one by one. stay close to a wall, Dont block but evade and spam your attack button as the wheelskelleton keeps rolling into the wall.

The bonfire after pinwheel is real close to where u meet Patches, but it a bit hidden, so yes u can totally miss it.

So i totally disagree with u, i realy like this areas.

If u go this area right from the start, it wise to stop progressing after the patches/reah thing, because the next area is real hard and the loot there isnt worth it, come back to this mid/late game. U cant warp yet, so instead backtracking just use a homeward bone (dont lit the bonfire at patches) and u will warp back.

Then u can go to undead burg, which will be real easy with the goodies u collected in the catacombs. Or go down to use the shortcut firelink shrine/valey of drakes that leads to Andre the Blacksmith.

Achtpuntzes wrote:This area is hard to newbees but real easy if u know the area.

^The story of the entire series. DS gameplay relies extremely on know-how. I looked up the area after beating it and found there was a bonfire behind a fake wall with no visible indication, unlike all the other walls that break. This goes back to NES Legend of Zelda levels of having to test (or bomb) every wall to find where the developers troll you.

My problem with the post pinwheel area is you just beat a hard area then enter a blind crawl full of instant death traps. I walked off the cliff because I was following the glowing stones and lost all my souls. The layout of that area is terrible. Bonfires are usually pretty well spaced in DS1 but not in the catacombs. It's poor level design that artificially extends the game through back tracking. Like I said, a simple bonfire after the boss would have made all the difference.

I beat the lower level of undeadberg without much trouble, although the damn dogs make the Capra Demon super annoying. Then the Depths were easy. Blight town is a fun area; I already went through the other side. Not much to say about these. Then I killed Ceaseless with the speedrunner cheese strat. It's one of those bosses that's very hard or stupidly easy if you know what to do.

Sen's Fortress is really fun but I accidentally hit Sigward when fighting the snakemen, he turned hostel and I had to kill him. Hopefully that won't haunt me later. DS has a thousand ways to screw you for a whole playthrough. The iron giant knocked me off the fortress once but was pretty easy. I bone-warped back to the fire rather than wasting all my souls again. Now I have to backtrack through the fortress.

Tomb of Giants is supposed to be an area u should do late game, so u should have lots of defence and attack power. Besides that there are 3 ways to create light in the darkness.

If this area frustrates u, u will get frustrated some more. In the dukes archives also bonfires are rare, and in Crystal Caves u have to walk on an invisable bridge where every wrong step will make u die by gravity. And if u find how to access Painted world of Aramis you stuck there, cant warp out of it. Only one bonfire and only way out is to kill the boss.

Tomb of Giants is supposed to be an area u should do late game, so u should have lots of defence and attack power. Besides that there are 3 ways to create light in the darkness.

If this area frustrates u, u will get frustrated some more. In the dukes archives also bonfires are rare, and in Crystal Caves u have to walk on an invisable bridge where every wrong step will make u die by gravity. And if u find how to access Painted world of Aramis you stuck there, cant warp out of it. Only one bonfire and only way out is to kill the boss.

1st off, no spoilers please. 2nd don't take it personally but it's just bad level design to have blind instant death traps after a huge experience dump with no checkpoints. DS3 realized this and fixed the problem. DS1 has good level designs too; like the depths/blight/quaylaag area. You have an easy shortcut from the depths fire to blighttown, a fire near the top, another at the bottom before the swamp and then one after the boss (which was the whole reason I didn't bone back after pinwheel, thinking they'd continue the pattern) before the demon ruins. The area was challenging without too much backtracking because the well placed checkpoints before each new challenge.

Ds3 has way too many bonfires in my opinion. Some do'nt even have a function at all.

Concider pinwheel as a mini boss. He dead in 10 seconds, even with unupgraded stuff. If u come here late game with upgraded stuff it can be a one hit kill. I think because the boss is so easy thay added some difficulty to place the bonfire not directly after pinwheel. And it isnt even that far away.

I went through Anor Londo without too much trouble, although the silver knights can be dangerous if they get the upperhand. Thanks to DS3 I knew to unlock the main gate for an easy shortcut. AL has good shortcuts and bonfire placement. The fire after entering the castle helped keep things fresh. Now I have to beat Orenstien and Smog. I took O down once but Smog surprised me at half health with an electric butt pound AoE. The hardest part of this fight is dealing with the lock on feature. And their combos sucks. I think if I can take out O again Smog will go down next time too. Because the giant blacksmith I have a +10 serpent greatsword and am in good shape.

I do not agree....Dark Souls has always been considered like one of the hardest game in history, and this is why....I remember my first run in DS 1....it took me 150 hours to complete it because i kept dying in the SAME areas....but this is Dark Souls....It's punishing as hell but the game has to be like it is...In my opinion a souls gamer that started with Dark Souls 3 can't appreciate DS1 because it's way harder than the other Souls Game...Have you ever tried Demon's Souls ? The REAL first Souls game ?That's even harder in some areas.....but in my opinion it will always be the Better Souls game ever created....